How do you start an essential oils business?
- Decide if this business is for you (read below)
- Understand how the business works
- Understand what a day in the life of an essential oils biz owner looks like
- Consider the 3 important factors before starting your biz (more below!)
- Connect with a mentor who will support you on your journey
- Decide what the goals for your business will be
- Work out your launch plan with your mentor
You’ve reached this post because you’re wanting to start an essential oils biz or you’re wanting to know more about how to do it the right way. Well, you’ve come to the best spot!
This guide was created to get you to DIVE right in and learn everything you need to know about how to start a dōTERRA essential oils business.
Is This for You?
This is the first question you want to ask yourself. But here’s the thing, if you don’t know what you’re about to get into, how can you know if it’s right for you? Reading through this article will give you a foundation to know the definite answer to this question.
dōTERRA is NOT for you if:
- you aren’t interested in living a natural lifestyle
- helping others doesn’t fuel you
- you aren’t looking to make a positive impact on the world
dōTERRA IS for you if:
- you are interested in living a natural lifestyle
- you like to make your own hours and are motivated to reach your personally-set goals
- it brings you joy to guide others as they make positive changes in their lives
- you believe in leaving the world better than when you entered it
- you’re interested in partnering with a company creating positive change in the world
How Does a dōTERRA Business Work?
There’s lots to cover here, which I’ve done in the video below. To sum things up, people who sell dōTERRA are called Wellness Advocates. dōTERRA is in the beautiful industry of network marketing – one of the fastest growing industries. It is promoted by some of the wealthiest people in the world, including Warren Buffet and Tony Robbins.
This video will teach you exactly what it means to have your own dōTERRA business, including some training on the oils and dōTERRA as a company itself.
A Day in the Life of a Wellness Advocate
I get this question a lot from newbies: what do I do?? As a Wellness Advocate (or WA), we use our own oils everyday – be a product of the product. We also share oils with those around us, whether its our own family members who had too much to eat at the holiday dinner or the cashier who had neck tension and you offered her Peppermint to allow for some relief.
This business is all about sharing the products with other people. It can be done in person or online. One of my FAV things about dōTERRA is that you can choose exactly how you want to run your biz. By this, I mean you can incorporate it in any way you want! That means there really is no typical day-in-the-life of a WA.
Let’s pretend you’re a yoga instructor, as an example.
You teach your yoga classes with your oils diffusing. You use the oils on your students to support them to feel calm and balanced. You teach DIY classes to your students where they can make their own yoga mat spray while learning about how the oils can support their emotions/mental wellness during and after a class.
Now let’s pretend you’re a real estate agent.
You have open houses every weekend. You bring a couple of diffusers to put throughout the house to release uplifting oils. The aromas support the potential buyers in feelings happiness and motivation. You also offer the oils as a congratulations gift to your new homebuyers/sellers.
How about the Stay-at-Home mom?
You use the oils every day in your home. You are a model for what it looks like to live a natural, healthy life. A couple evenings a week you teach classes – whether it’s at the library or at your neighbour’s house. You host playdates where you teach other moms how to make natural bum sprays and hand cleansers, keeping toxins out of the bodies of their most precious of babes. You’re known as the natural medicine woman in your circle and are constantly being referred to by people.
And the blogger?
You are obsessed with your oils and love to write all the tips and tricks you’ve learned. You blog about your journey to wellness and others find you captivating and want to follow along your same path. You light the lives of so many and share your story in a way that only YOU can. You gather a large following over the months of educating others on the benefits of natural living.
Do you see all the various ways you can incorporate this business into your life? There’s no one way to do this business. Sure, there are guidelines that you can follow, but each and every one of us can make it what we want to.
Which leads me to my next point…
3 Important Things to Consider Before Starting Your dōTERRA Business
While there are many things you’ll want to think about before starting up your business, here are the top 3 in my books!
1. Your Expectations
It’s very important to consider what your goals are for your business. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. This business, like any business, takes time and takes action on your behalf.
You will come up to many obstacles along the way, which you have to work through. That’s one of the best parts about this style of business! Before you can get to a goal, you need to change as a person and to have what it takes to be next-level.
This business pushes you out of your comfort zone, but rewards you ten-fold. There’s a quote by Dave Ramsey that says “Live like no one else so you can live like no one else.” He’s basically saying that when you do the things others aren’t willing to do (eg: starting and establishing your own biz), you later reap the benefit by living the way no one else can. The freedom, the time with family, living life on your terms.
Do you want to make that promise to yourself? Because as long as you take action consistently and never give up, I promise you will get there. But be sure your expectations for what you want in your business will meet the actions you’ll need to take to get there.
2. Why dōTERRA? Why you? Why now?
These are important questions to consider. Why do you want to link arms with dōTERRA and partner alongside them? Maybe it’s their products, their mission, or maybe it’s because of the heart and integrity of the company.
Why should you be the one to bring this message to others? Maybe you have a story (we all do) that needs to be heard. Only YOU have a voice that is distinctly yours – maybe you’re trying to find a platform from which to move your personal mission. That is why it needs to be you.
And why start now? Maybe you’re ready to make a difference in the lives of others. Maybe you have a passion for natural wellness that you’re ready to take on as a business now. Or perhaps you’re ready to make a big change in your life and do something completely different than you’ve done before. You’re ready. Now.
3. Your Mentor
Do some research before joining dōTERRA to see who you fit well with. I say this because once you join dōTERRA, the person who helped you get started will be your ‘upline’. This is the person who will be your mentor throughout your journey.
Why is this important? Well, if your sister’s friend helped you get your dōTERRA account set up but she just casually shares oils with friends, then you’re not going to receive much support from her. If you’re looking for maximum support as you’re growing your business, knowing you’re not alone and wanting to be a part of a supportive organization, then pay attention to who you want to have mentoring you.
Look for someone who you can really connect with. Read their blog posts or follow them on social media to see if they fit with you. Look at their lifestyle and personality. Love them? Then reach out to them and let them know you want to connect about starting a business! There’s nothing better than having an amazing mentor to walk this path with.
Grab this worksheet so you can make some notes on these important considerations.
How Much Does it Cost to Start Selling dōTERRA?
In order to become a Wellness Advocate with dōTERRA, the minimum you need is to purchase a wholesale membership ($35 USD, $42 CDN). Of course, you’ll want to purchase your oils as well. dōTERRA makes it REALLY easy by offering starter kits for every budget – from $150-$2500. You pick what’s right for you!
Aaaaand, guess what? When you purchase a starter kit, they waive your membership fee for the first year. Awesome! 🙌 Here’s a list of the kits you can purchase from the US. There are many other countries where dōTERRA is available, including Canada, Australia, and the UK/Europe…and so many more. If you’re ready to jump in and purchase your kit, email me or go to www.mydoterra.com/peaceloveandpeppermint to sign yourself up!
From there, I would average my costs per month being between about $150-$300 per month, depending on what I want to purchase for make-and-take classes, oil supplies, and the general costs of running my business (which is all able to be written off – talk to an accountant if you want to know how awesome it is to have your biz and write off the costs of you running it!).
I have a friend who owns a yoga studio and guess what her costs are? Over $20,000 per month!! WHAT? Considering the costs for any brick and mortar location, our costs in running our dōTERRA business is what a brick and mortar business owner would pay just in phone bills. #wearelucky
How Much Do You Make Selling dōTERRA?
That’s a great question! I’m glad you asked…or that I asked on your behalf 😉
Before I explain the breakdown of making money with dōTERRA, there are a few things you need to know:
- OV: this is the amount of volume (oils sold) within your organization in a month, known as Organizational Volume (OV)
- Rank: this is a term that represents the number of customers and Wellness Advocates structured within your organization. The ranks are as follows: Manager (500 OV), Director (1000 OV), Executive (2000 OV), Elite (3000 OV), Premier (5000 OV), Silver (9000 OV), Gold (15,000 OV), Platinum (27,000 OV), Diamond (36,000 OV), Blue Diamond (75,000 OV), Presidential Diamond (162,000 OV)
- PV: this is the amount of volume of product you have personally purchased in a month (minimum of 100 PV as a biz owner, which is pretty close to dollar value), known as Personal Volume
Compensation with dōTERRA is based on commissions, which is dependent on the amount of action you choose to take with your business (I’ll explain action steps in a minute).
Take a look at the following examples of the average earnings based on time investment and your personal goal:
Depending on the hours you put into your business, as well as the required action steps to make things happen over time, the compensation varies. These numbers are averages, but pretty bang on!
Here is another chart from dōTERRA’s earning disclosure summary, which outlines the average annual income, based on the various ranks (starting at the rank of Silver).
Action Steps Required to Grow Your dōTERRA Business
As a business owner, you want to be consistent in the actions you take in order to grow. We follow an acronym called PIPES. This stands for:
Prepare
The action taken in this step are such things as: planning your schedule, taking note of people you want to invite to classes, and growing yourself as a person.
Invite
Connect with people in an authentic way, meeting them where they are in their wellness journey. Invite them to a class, webinar, or one-on-one so you can provide options for natural solutions.
Present
Presenting can be in theform of a class, one-on-one, webinar, going live on social media, meeting at someone else’s home, holding a workshop, doing a lunch & learn – the ways to present the oils and educate others are endless.
Enroll
Once you have presented the oils, the next step is enrolling. This is where you teach others how to purchase their oils and get their own dōTERRA membership. The focus for enrolling others is based on their needs and their wellness goals, which should have a focus during the Presenting step.
Support
This is one of my FAV parts, supporting the new customer! Once they receive their oils, we jump on a call to complete a Lifestyle Overview, where we go over the oils again and how to use them. They are taught how to log into their dōTERRA account to order more oils, they are added to our social media pages, and they receive a welcome email.
Check out this link for a full document on building the business with PIPES.
Promoting Your dōTERRA Business
There are numerous ways to promote your new business. Depending on what your preferred method is, here are a few ideas to get you started.
In Person
This is a relationship business and what better way to build a relationship than in person?! This is my fav way, mainly because I have big love for teaching people in real life.
Here are some of the ways you can build your business in person:
- teaching classes/workshops
- in person meeting with someone one-on-one and working with them to support their wellness goals
- collaborating with other health and wellness businesses
- presenting to groups (eg: moms group, teachers, lunch & learns at local businesses)
- attending local events as a vendor to meet new contacts, sell oils, invite people to your workshops
Online
Building a business online can be very successful with consistency and if you know who you are targeting, where they are online, and know how to attract them. However, it does take about twice as long to build online vs in person because the trust can’t be built the same way.
Here are some of the ways you can build your dōTERRA business online:
- social media
- blogging
- website
I’ve seen people do this business both ways or only one of these two ways. All have succeeded. In fact, one of the highest ranking people in all of dōTERRA never used any social media – not even emailing people (her hubby would do it for her) – until recently! Whereas another highest ranking person built her entire business on social media.
Anything is possible with consistency and dedication.
Ready to Start Your Business?
Let’s review:
- is dōTERRA for you?
- learn about the company and what it means to be a Wellness Advocate
- consider how you would want to run your business (online vs in person or mix of both)
Feeling Ready?
Maybe you’ve found the person who’s right for you to be your mentor. Maybe you’re already a dōTERRA customer and will connect with the person who helped you get started. That’s great! You can check out my site specific to Wellness Advocates.
But maybe you don’t know a Wellness Advocate to enrol with and feel a connection with me here.
If you’re that last person, let’s go on!
What you can expect from me
When a new Wellness Advocate starts their business with me, I show up as little or as much as they wish when it comes to mentoring. The action they put into their biz is how much I put into them.
Is that person you? Here’s what you can expect:
- A call between the two of us is booked right away to chat about your vision, what you want to get out of your business, and how you want to pour into your business.
- We create a plan for the first month as you launch your business.
- You are set up with a self-led training program that is specific to our organization. This program will offer all the basics of what you need to start.
- You’ll be invited into our amazing community of fellow WA’s where you can find so much support as you launch your business.
- I’ll provide you with info for local-to-you dōTERRA events/trainings.
- I will teach the first couple of classes with you if you’re local to me (although I’ve been known to drive out to teach classes at a distance!). If these classes are done online via a webinar, we will co-teach that way for your first couple of classes to get you used to the flow.
- I lead weekly Team Talks on Zoom, which you would be invited to take part. These weekly talks go more in-depth to the mindset and skillset of the biz and allow for Q&A.
- If you would like more personal direction, I offer mentor calls weekly or every other week for new WAs who are launching their business and in action. I also use the app Voxer for more consistent contact/questions/etc so you don’t need to wait for a mentor call!
Now you’ve got all the information you need to make an informed decision about starting a dōTERRA business. If you don’t yet have a Wellness Advocate you’re working with and are looking for some guidance, reach out to me!
If you’ve already got these dōTERRA beauties in your life and are looking for assistance to launch your business, be sure to reach out to the person who helped get you set up with your own account.
Happy Oiling!
